Automobile accidents are a primary cause of personal injury in the United States. Experts and analysts claim that vehicle accidents cause the death of one human life every 50 minutes. Drivers and passengers are often injured in car accidents. Soreness from a car accident is unnerving, and you may be asking yourself how long you will suffer from the lingering effects of your automobile accident.
Many accident victims feel pain in their neck or in their back following a severe accident. You should understand how long you should expect to feel sore after a car accident so you can know if you need emergency medical care or treatment.
How Long Will The Pain Last?
Experiencing pain is a normal part of being in a car accident. Severe accidents can cause extensive trauma throughout the human body. Minor car accidents can affect the body in unexpected ways that linger for months and years.
Depending on the type of injuries you suffered during your car accident, you may be feeling sore for a short or long amount of time. Many variables affect your injuries, and the recovery time your body requires to heal itself.
Where were you sitting in the vehicle when the accident occurred? Were you wearing a safety belt when the accident occurred? Did the airbags go off during the accident? The answers to these questions will influence how you respond to medical treatment and the length of time your body needs to recover.
Also, the rate of speed at which you were traveling will affect the trauma your body suffered. The size of your vehicle is also an important factor in determining how long you will need to recover from your injuries. Other vehicles involved in the crash may have been large or small, and this will also affect the severity of your injuries and the length of your recovery time.
If you are like the average accident victim, you can expect to feel sore for a few weeks after the motor vehicle accident. Many individuals who are injured during car accidents will feel sore for six weeks after the accident.
The major factor influencing your recovery time will be the type of injury you suffered during your motor vehicle accident.
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Types of Car Accident Injuries
If you were involved in an automobile accident, then it is highly likely that you suffered a personal injury. Even if you did not experience traumatic lacerations or fractures, you might still experience a sore neck and a sore back.
Filing an insurance claim for your injuries is an important step after experiencing injuries during a car accident. You should consult with an experienced attorney before you file any type of insurance claim for your injuries.
These are some of the injuries that frequently occur as a result of automobile accidents.
Whiplash
Whiplash is a serious injury that can produce long-term consequences for your mobility and your overall health. Rear-end collisions are one of the major causes of whiplash in automobile accident victims. The most common symptom of whiplash is sore pain in the neck, shoulders, and arms.
If you experienced whiplash during your car accident, then you may first notice muscle weakness and a tingling sensation near your neck and arms. Accident victims recovering from whiplash also report experiencing headaches and migraines.
Some automobile accident victims do not notice that they have experienced whiplash because the effects do not appear until one or two days after the automobile accident. Whiplash symptoms usually fade away after two to three weeks.
Sprains
Drivers are close to the steering wheel, and this object may cause serious strains and sprains during an automobile accident. Passengers may also experience strains and sprains due to injured tendons and ligaments.
Many patients treated for these kinds of strains and sprains will feel tenderness for up to eight weeks after suffering a sprain or strain in an automobile accident. After six weeks, most of the symptoms associated with sprains and strains should subside.
Sometimes symptoms associated with sprains and strains will be intermittent. If the pain associated with a sprain or strain comes and goes, then you should seek medical attention to make sure that you don’t have some other medical condition that should be treated immediately.
Muscle Soreness
Drivers and passengers do not expect to suffer serious injuries, and they have no way to anticipate the automobile accident. The driver and passengers do not have time to react to the automobile collision. If someone sees the impact coming, they likely will tense up as they anticipate the oncoming collision.
These delayed reaction times and tensing of the body can expose the driver and passengers to increased risk of muscle trauma. People who were not wearing a seatbelt may have been tossed around the vehicle’s interior. If someone is tossed around inside a motor vehicle, even during a minor accident, that individual will likely experience muscle soreness.
Sore muscles can also arise when the seatbelt presses against a person’s chest, hips, and waist. You should focus on any muscle soreness in your legs, arms, back, and stomach following an automobile accident.
When Should You See a Doctor?
Seeing a physician after being injured in an automobile accident is a good idea. If you don’t think your injuries are serious, you still need to seek medical care and have the doctor record your injuries in a medical record. A minor injury can still affect you in unforeseeable ways months after the automobile accident.
You should seek medical attention if you believe you suffered an injury during an automobile accident. You may have more severe injuries than you are aware of immediately following the automobile accident. Internal bleeding is a symptom that may not be obvious to you in the days following an automobile accident.
You should seek immediate medical care immediately if you experience any of these symptoms:
- Pain that does not diminish in one week
- Persistent nausea or vomiting
- Shortness of breath
- Injuries that have not healed in six weeks
- Confusion or disorientation
Disorientation and confusion may suggest that you suffered a traumatic brain injury. You need to seek medical attention as quickly as possible if you suspect this is the case. These symptoms can lead to complications that may be life-threatening. A traumatic brain injury attorney can also help you with your case.
What If My Injuries Appear Long After an Automobile Accident?
You should document your injuries, get medical attention, and amend your insurance claim. After you perform these actions, you should contact an experienced car accident attorney who can help you file a car accident personal injury claim.
When Should I Hire a Lawyer After an Automobile Accident?
You should hire a car accident attorney immediately after the automobile accident. You do not want to miss any deadlines or delay the filing of your legal claims. Insurance companies will try to take advantage of injured parties and force an inadequate settlement.
You need to obtain the highest amount of financial compensation you can, and you can do this by hiring an experienced automobile accident attorney. An injury lawyer can also help you if you are injured during an accident involving an Uber or Lyft driver.
Call Us Today to Speak with an Austin Car Accident Attorney
If you have been injured in an accident, you need to speak to a lawyer as soon as you can. At The Patel Firm, we’re committed to helping victims obtain the full and fair value of their car accident cases. We will review your case at no cost to you and only collect legal fees if we win your case. To schedule your free case evaluation, call our office today at (361) 400-2036.
